By Tiernan Ray

First, a big thank you to my colleague Teresa Rivas, who filled in for me superbly while I was on vacation following the Mobile World Congress, a show that usually requires a vacation.

And now, here are some things going on this morning in your world of tech:

Shares of Charter Communications (CHTR) are up $1.73, or 1.4%, at $128.73, after Jefferies & Co.’s Mike McCormack this morning raised his rating on the shares to Buy from Hold, and raised his price target to $150 from $125, writing that the Street is not giving the company enough credit for “operational momentum,” including such things as progress in video subscriber additions.

Shares of 3-D printing names are lower this morning after my colleague Alex Eule‘s negative cover story on the group in this week’s Barron’s magazine. Alex wrote that the hype has been all about the companies’ consumer applications, while their real future, industrial-grade production machines, has a ways to go.

Shares of 3D Systems (DDD) are down $3.81, or almost 6%, at $63.50, shares of Stratasys (SSYS) are down $3.64, or 3.2%, at $110.86, and shares of VoxelJet (VJET) are down $1.82, or 5%, at $32.37.

For some interesting thoughts on the industry, see my blog of yesterday’s discussion at South by Southwest between Shapeways and Autodesk (ADSK).

Another stock hit today by a negative Barron’s piece is solar installer Solar City (SCTY). My colleague Bill Alpertwrote in the Tech Trader column that the company’s math about years of future lease payments doesn’t make sense. ” I worry that key aspects of its retained-value calculus rely on assumptions that are too rosy,” wrote Bill.

Solar City shares are down $2.16, or almost 3%, at $75.64.

Shares of eBay (EBAY) are down 95 cents, or 1.6%, at $58.11, after the company this morning issued its proxy statement for its annual meeting, and urged shareholders not to vote for board members nominated by Carl Icahn, who has been agitating for the company to spin off its PayPal unit.

“The Board of Directors does not endorse any Icahn Group nominee or the Icahn Proposal and unanimously recommends that you vote on the WHITE proxy card or voting instruction form “FOR ALL” of the nominees proposed by the Board of Directors and “AGAINST” the Icahn Proposal,” states eBay.

Shares of AT&T (T) are down 23 cents, or 0.7%, at $32.31, after the company over the weekend addressed ongoing speculation about its making a bid for Vodafone (VOD), with CEO Randall Stephenson telling investors at a Morgan Stanley conference that “the window may be closing on perhaps owning wireless assets,” as related by The Financial Times‘s Paul Taylor.

AT&T also announced lower pricing for wireless plans over the weekend, as related by The Wall Street Journal‘s Thomas Gryta. The cost for calling plans that include 2 gigabytes of data goes down by 19%, from perhaps $80 to $65, Gryta writes.

At the same time, T-Mobile US (TMUS) actually raised prices on unlimited data. But things are never so simple in cellular pricing. Wells Fargo‘s Jennifer Fritzsche, who has a Market Perform rating on T-Mobile stock, notes that T-Mobile actually boosted the data allotment for some lower-cost, fixed-allotment plans, writing “For example, under the new plans, a user can get 1 GB of data (plus unlimited talk and text) for $50 / month (vs. the prior plan which only allowed for 500MB of data). For $60 / month a user gets unlimited talk / text and 3GB of data (vs. 2.5GB prior). “

Writes Fritzsche, “At the core of this move, we believe is the fact that TMUS is beginning to realize the true cost of unlimited data offerings.”

But Cowen & Co.’s Colby Synesael sounds more upbeat on T-Mobile’s move, writing that “We believe T-Mobile has the luxury of both an unlimited offer and subscriber growth momentum that puts it in an enviable position to raise prices that should provide additional margin and FCF vs. previous expectations yet still drive strong net adds.”

T-Mobile stock is down 31 cents, or 1%, at $30.48.

Shares of VMware (VMW) are down 31 cents at $101.20, despite the stock getting a couple of price target increases this morning.

Phil Winslow with Credit Suisse, reiterating an Outperform rating, raised his price target to $130 from $110, writing that “VMware is the Dominant Hypervisor Vendor… We believe Wall Street underappreciates how uniquely positioned VMware is to emerge as the dominant vendor in the burgeoning software-defined networking (SDN) market.”

He observes, “VMware maintains a commanding competitive position at the hypervisor level with more than 50% share, which we view as highly defensible.”

And Mizuho Securities USA‘s Abhey Lamba retierates a Buy rating on the shares, after visiting not only VMware but also Citrix Systems (CTXS), startup Cloudera, Informatcia (INFA), Tableau Software (DATA), and startup Hortonworks. He raises his price target on VMware to $120 from $110, writing the company is likely to stay ahead of Citrix, writing “VMware seems to be relying on its strength in data centers to penetrate the desktop market and the company is investing aggressively in mobility solutions. Its strategy to target the EUC market seems strong and we expect the relative outperformance to continue over the next few quarters driving upside to estimates.”

Speaking of all things virtual, R.W. Baird’s Jayson Noland is among Street observers today discussing his trip to the industry event in Santa Clara called the Open Networking Summit, at which alternatives to traditional networking gear were discussed. Comments from AT&T have Noland concerned for Cisco Systems (CSCO) and Juniper Networks (JNPR).

“Executives detailed plans to dramatically change how it builds networks and procures network equipment,” he writes. “Some attendees openly questioned how quickly AT&T would be able to execute its plan. However, Juniper, Cisco, and other incumbents still face uncertainty, in our opinion.”

Global Equities Research‘s Trip Chowdhry today writes up negative chatter he’s heard about Apple (AAPL), despite an Overweight rating on the shares. Chowdhry writes “Apple Shareholders, Apple Employees and the Developer Community at-large have lost confidence is Apple’s current leadership” and that CEO Tim Cook “is being incentivized to operate in a comfort zone of complacency until August 2016″ because of the structure of his stock option vesting.”

Jefferies‘s Hyunwoo Doh beats the drum for TV sets based on organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology, writing that he visited LG Display‘s (LPL) factories on Friday and met with engineers. Despite skepticism about the technology, writes Doh, he believes it is the future of TV, as LG Display does: “Apart from its technological advantages over LCD, OLED can lower the unit manufacturing costs of panels […] because: 1) OLED does not need expensive components, such as BLU; and 2) while organic material prices are currently higher than liquid crystal prices, due to low demand, this should change once OLED is mass-produced.”

Doh has a Buy rating on LPL stock and a ₩33,000 price target on the ordinary shares (034220KS). The US ADRs today are down 23 cents, or 2%, at $11.09, while the ordinary shares traded down to ₩23,800.

In case you missed it, The Journal’s Rolfe Winklertoday pens an item on Google‘s (GOOG) mobile challenges, namely that its search service doesn’t reach into mobile apps. The article cites comments by Google execs about the company’s initiative to get app developers to incorporate hooks into their apps to make them searchable.

Speaking of Google, The FT’s Tim Bradshawyesterday wrote about remarks by the company’s head of Android software development, Sunar Pichai, stating that the company will expand options for developers to make wearable technology, ranging from familiar fitness bands to “smart jackets.”

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There are 6 comments

MARCH 10, 2014 11:58 A.M.

anonymous wrote:

If TMUS and Sprint are allowed to merge, AT&T should sue the one's that did not allow its merger for 50 Billion dollars. Mind you T paid 4 Billion dollars to TMUS
It will not happen, the merger. The analysts are misleading the investors.

MARCH 10, 2014 12:07 P.M.

Anonymous wrote:

barrons's has always had a negative spin, for as long as I can remember (mid-80's). to take credit for causing a stock to drop is the worst i've seen though.

MARCH 10, 2014 12:53 P.M.

manonroad wrote:

@anonymous, you are right on! They were negative on BWLD not long ago

MARCH 10, 2014 6:03 P.M.

farmboy2054 wrote:

Mr. Ray,

It would be nice if you elaborate on your note on LG Display and their OLED TV's, and the analyst Mr. Doh who "believes it is the future of TV, as LG Display does". Universal Display Corp (symbol OLED) has received alot of negative reporting in your column. In particular from "noted short sellers" and rogue analysts. Yet Universal Display sells LG Display the OLED emitter materials and has been a collaborative partner for a good 8 years or more. Also, LG Display license's the OLED patents from Universal Display through a Development Agreement. Listening to many of the conference calls with Universal Display, we all know a long term licence agreement is expected in less then 6 months. About the time LG Display starts mass producing OLED TV's on their new GEN 8 production line in 2H14 and generating a 50% increase in material revenue for Universal Display per their recent conference call.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.